Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth, prophecy, healing, plague, music and poetry. I became interested in Apollo because, whilst doing my research for my previous blog on his sister Artemis, I could see that much of the duality in her character is also present in him, only in different forms. It was prophesized that he would be excessively violent, to the extent that many lands ‘refused’ to be the setting for his birth,1 yet he is the god of order and shape via mediating the words of Zeus. Additionally, through his bow he both protects and punishes the mortals by being the bringer and the healer of plagues.2 Nevertheless he is a deity that brings people together in harmonious and pleasurable activities through his epithets of music, poetry and sports, all symbolic with the lyre.
Due to his harmonious and leisure epithets, he was very much related to communal activities, thus scholars like Zaidman has used Dionysus as a comparison to learn more about how they differ from each since they are both related to communal deeds.3 In this case, I would like to take a ‘Parisian’ approach, which was discussed in my second blog, and compare Apollo and Hermes through their epithet of communication.
Apollo is a deity of light, truth and order. Light has always been associated with truth and honesty, and this notion is still very much integrated in our society. Expressions like to ‘enlighten’ or ‘illuminate’ someone, or even someone’s sudden realization of the truth is represented by a ‘light bulb turning on’. These examples are all associated with truth and certainty, and this is very much the connotation of light attached to Apollo, specifically Apollo Phoibos (the brilliant). His epithet of light is metaphorical for his association with truth and order, for everything that light touches has been illuminated with truth. Although there is a duality in his character, which is showed in the very fact that Phoibos loosely translates to ‘the brilliant one/who instils fear, Apollo is not an ambiguous deity. There are no ‘grey’ areas with Apollo and this is conveyed through his setting of boundaries through speech, which was used to convey the righteous words of Zeus in an oracular, rhetoric manner.
Hermes has some epithets that are very much related to Apollo; sometimes he is even portrayed as a young beardless male like Apollo, mainly due to his relation to sports. Although they share the epithet of communication, Hermes uses it in a very different way. His use of speech is very much in a cunning, persuasive manner. He is able to manipulate situations and find certain grey areas between boundaries that work in his favour. An example of this behaviour is when he gives the Apollo the lyre as an exchange for stealing his cattle, which is ultimately the way he secures his position as an Olympian deity.4 He is a deity that is often linked with thievery and exchange, which are areas that his cunning and trickster character comes to life. His persuasive and deceitful use of speech distorts the truth creating ‘grey’ areas, which is essentially where he domains, being able to do this hinders Apollo’s ‘light’ from finding the complete truth, thus putting limits to Apollo’s power. This idea of checks and balances to power was mentioned in my second blog, but will be further explored in my next blog in relation to Zeus.
I briefly mentioned the herms in my previous blog on Artemis and became intrigued by the way that is could further my comparison of Hermes and Apollo by looking at their representation in the polis.
The name Hermes derives from the word Herm that loosely translated means boundaries, further accentuating that they do not restrain Hermes, yet one of the ways he was represented was in column form. In Athens they were generally placed outside common areas. Through the representation of the herms, his epithet of movement and even his very name shows that Hermes represents boundaries by transcending them. However, statues of Apollo were also common in the polis, and were usually found by the entrances to the city and houses as a protector against intruder, usually being worshipped in cults of Apollo Agyieus (of the street), Thyraios (of the Door), Propylaios (Before the Gate) and Prostaterios (Protector). Although it does not represent boundaries to movement like the herms, Apollo becomes a barrier once he is depicted as a defender and a protector by placing boundaries to outsiders. Additionally, due to Apollo’s association with order and justice, he sets and exercises barriers in a more abstract manner when he mediates the will of Zeus (especially to the mortals), which sets forth ‘codes of conduct’ and rules that are deemed correct for mortals.
Although Apollo and Hermes share certain epithets, it is evident that their characters are entirely different. Apollo’s association with order and punishment is where we can see aspects of boundaries with him, whereas with Hermes it is in his lack of them that relates to the notion of borders. This also interrelates with their epithets of communication; Apollo using the epithet of speech to convey Zeus’ will, as well as honesty and poetry, while Hermes uses it persuasively and as manipulation. The main difficulty I faced in taking a Parisian approach to this study is the possibility of forcing them into a structure or a pattern. Nevertheless, comparing these two deities allowed me to understand both of them individually more in depth than I had in the past by studying them separately. Paradoxically, only by bringing them together one can truly individualize them
1 The Homeric Hymns: Hymn to Apollo http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3
Bibliography
-Graf, F. (2009) 'Apollo' London: Routledge
-Larson, J. (2007) 'Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide', New York and London: Routledge.
-Shelmerdine, S. (2000) 'The Homeric Hymns' Focus: Newburyport
-Zaidman, L.B. and Schmitt Pantel, P. (1992) 'Religion in the Ancient Greek City', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1 comment:
Have you checked out Nietszche" Birth of Tragedy? His first book with some great insights into Apollo and Dionysus? Some grist for your mill!
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